OFFICIALS LEGISLATION INTEREST GROUPS PUBLIC STATEMENTS COMMITTEES VETOES

Gun Violence

Floor Speech

Date: March 13, 2018
Location: Washington, DC
Issues: Guns

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Mr. ELLISON. Mr. Speaker, tomorrow is a very important day. Students in my district are walking out of school because they expect their leaders to do something about this problem of gun violence. For years, this body sadly has failed to act; and because we failed to act, our young people are acting tomorrow.

Mr. Speaker, 2,808 people have died in 2018 already because of this scourge of gun violence.

Why isn't that enough for us to act?

It is only March, and already we have almost 3,000 people dead. I guess that is not a surprise because at least 15,549 people died from gun violence in 2017 last year.

Isn't that enough?

We know why this is going on: powerful commercial interests in Washington--gun manufacturers led by their lawyer, I guess the NRA--are preventing basic, commonsense approaches to safety.

You can't even study it. The Centers for Disease Control is prohibited from studying gun violence. We don't have enough resources to really make a true database so that you can find the people who are, in fact, legally prohibited from getting guns, so they sneak through the holes. There are many other problems.

Now is the time, Mr. Speaker. We have to act with those young people who are walking out tomorrow.

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